Captain Oats
by AshGurl2897
Summary: Complete SS Flashback fic (Spoilers from The Rescue)
1. Default Chapter

Summer entered Seth's room tentatively. She looked around. It was nice and fairly neat for a guy's room. One thing hooked her eye as she scanned the space; a small brown, toy pony. She approached his desk, which the horse plaything sat on.  
  
"What's this?" She asked.  
  
"I've never seen that in my life." Seth replied with an only faintly believable tone. Summer was not convinced.  
  
"What's its name?" She asked again. Again he denied it.  
  
"I don't know what you're talking abo---okay. His name is Captain Oats." Seth sighed. Summer nearly broke into a fit of giggles.  
  
"We should really get going, don't you think?" He asked in attempt to change the subject.  
  
"Yeah, but we need to get Ryan." She replied, placing the horse on the table. She left Captain Oats there, but she still thought about him as they left to get Ryan. She tried to focus on Marissa's problem, but her thoughts kept going back to that stupid horse. Why did Cohen have a toy horse in his room? She racked her brain on that question but came up with no answer.  
  
Ironically, the answer was truly simple.  
  
Captain Oats had been a gift from Seth's past. At age 8, Seth Cohen was almost as maladjusted as he is now. But at one point he'd been invited to a girl's birthday party. A girl he'd thought was the cutest 2nd grader in all of Orange County. He'd been invited to her birthday party, and it had shocked him. He was never invited to parties, especially girls.  
  
He thought for weeks about what to get her for a present, and he'd decided on a toy pony because he knew she loved horses. His mother gave him some money, and he went out and bought it. He wrapped it up in pink sparkly birthday paper, which any 8 year old girl would have loved.  
  
The day of the party, he got dressed in some semi-formal clothes; khaki's and a nice shirt. His mother made him wear it, but secretly he wanted to look good. He stood on the front doorstep and reached up to ring the doorbell. It rang, and he waited patiently. The door opened, and that little girl was on the other side. She looked at him and stood there.  
  
"Hi. It's your birthday, right?" Seth stammered. He always said the stupidest things whenever he was around her.  
  
"Yeah, but I didn't invite you." She replied.  
  
"But you did. I have the card here---" He added. She cut him off.  
  
"Well, it was a mistake." She replied, looked at him closely for another minute and then shut the door.  
  
Seth sighed. He carried the pony in the wrapping all the way back home. He walked miserably up the stairs, and plopped the box down on his bed. He sat on the bed, staring at the box, attempting to figure out what was wrong with him. As the paper glittered in his direction, he felt the urge to tear the neatly wrapped package. He did, and he pulled out the pony.  
  
From that day on, he kept Captain Oats in his room. It served as a reminder of that little girl who he'd almost got to spend a whole afternoon with. The little girl, who he'd, had a crush on since then and still today. A little girl named Summer Roberts. 


	2. Giving up

Seth sat home, again on his bed. Marissa was saved, for now and Ryan was off somewhere. For the moment, Seth was just enjoying his time alone. He'd just settled in when there was a knock on his door. He heaved a sigh, threw down his comic book, and answered the door.  
  
"Summer, what are you doing here?" He stammered. She looked somehow softer than she ever had. Like she'd let down some sort of barrier she always held up.  
  
"I just wanted to talk. Is that okay?"  
  
"Yeah, come in." He opened the door widely for her and she entered. He closed the door and followed behind her. After a minute of quiet, he asked the only logical question. "What did you want to talk about?" She looked around after his question.  
  
"Where's Captain Oats?" She directed her attention back to him. He looked puzzled but fished around in a desk drawer and pulled him out.  
  
"Why do you want to see him? Come to tease me some more?" He asked holding the pony out at her.  
  
"No, actually I was trying all day to figure out why you would possibly have that and something kept nagging at me to find out." She looked straight into his eyes. "Mind telling me?"  
  
"It was a gift that I never gave. I have no fascination in ponies. It reminds me of someone; someone---" He was going to finish that sentence, but thought the better of it.  
  
"Oh, who does it remind you of?" She asked.  
  
"Why does it matter to you?"  
  
"I already told you. I have this weird curiosity. Just answer the question."  
  
"It reminds me of the little girl with the brown pigtails, who invited me to her birthday party, but slammed the door in my face. It reminds me of the girl who I thought was the prettiest, sweetest little girl in the second grade. It reminds me of the little girl who I gave a pink heart valentine, even though I got made fun of for it. It reminds me of a girl that will never love me as much as I love her."  
  
Suddenly everything clicked in her mind. A little girl with brown pigtails, who got a big pink valentine in 2nd grade, the little girl obsessed with ponies. It all made sense.  
  
"Are you sure about that little girl? A lot can change in that many years. Maybe she just never looked beyond her front yard to see the pasture that waited for her."  
  
"Sometimes I think people never really change."  
  
"Can I take him with me? I think the little girl with the pigtails would like him." She pointed again at the pony.  
  
For the longest time he just stared at her. She was even more beautiful now it seemed, than when she was in second grade, that memory of her. He thought about Captain Oats and how he'd always served to remind him of that little girl. Slowly he held out the toy.  
  
"Thanks, Seth." She stepped closer, reached out for the horse, and kissed him on the cheek. She turned away to leave his room, but before she reached the door she turned around one more time. She smiled just a little and then opened the wooden door.  
  
He sighed a little. He'd given up a friend, a silly toy. In the end, he didn't really need Captain Oats anymore. He had the little brown haired girl with the pigtails, and that was more than he could ever ask for. 


End file.
